Jade mountain carving

During the Qing period, the boulders and carvings of mountains in jade was a narrative way of capturing landscape paintings in three dimensions. This mountain-like jade carving is decorated almost as though it were a painted surface. In the foreground, detailed trees, bushes, and a mountain pavilion are intricately carved in high relief giving an illusionary perspective. A darker bluish-gray tone forms the mountain peak and slope. There is little carved detail-only one building and one tree, as well as mountains defined by carving into the jade. The stand is carved to fit the asymmetrical form of the jade, and is intricately carved with small detailed flowers that have tiny holes in the center. The date of this piece should be anywhere from the late Ming to the Qing period or even recent times. It is unquestionably not of the Eastern Han.